After more than a year of review, state regulators have approved the city’s Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan (MHP). City officials, led by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) received nearly all the flexibility they were seeking from the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for two new tower developments at the Harbor Garage and Hook Read More…
Last minute revisions were released Tuesday to the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan draft by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA, formerly the BRA). The BPDA Board is expected to approve the plan on February 9th so it can go to State review. The 11th hour revisions are substantial, an effort to incorporate public comments and guidance from the State, said Read More…
An overwhelming number of residents opposed the Municipal Harbor Plan, proposed by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA, formerly the BRA), at the January 2017 meeting of the North End / Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA). The plan is a set of guidelines for zoning and a vision for development and open space for Boston’s waterfront between the Read More…
The Wharf District Council (WDC) is pushing for a significant increase of 200,000+ square feet in open space on the waterfront as part of its own Public Realm Vision plan released this week. The draft document shown below in its entirety comes in response to the public realm initiative being put forth by the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA, formerly the Read More…
The September 28th meeting of the Downtown Municipal Harbor Plan Advisory Committee, hosted by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), formerly known as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), heard a presentation from the New England Aquarium (NEAQ). The team presented their concept for a corridor, 1000 feet long and about 80 feet wide, dubbed the Read More…
The Boston Redevelopment Authority’s (BRA) series of public meetings to further discuss their draft guidelines with the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Planning Advisory Committee and get input from the public continued this week on Wednesday, April 13th. The BRA and the Committee heard a presentation from RKG Associates about development projects included in other Harbor Read More…
Wednesday’s meeting of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) continued the work on the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan (MHP) draft. The Advisory Committee and the public heard statements from the BRA and Utile Inc, about the progress that was made and the decision making process that is ongoing. Mr. Rich McGuinness, Deputy Director for Waterfront Planning Read More…
Concerns regarding a stalled planning process for the Downtown Waterfront are being expressed by several members of the Municipal Harbor Planning Advisory Committee. The planning process will set the guidelines for major development sites, including Harbor Garage and Hook Lobster site. In addition to asking why 14 meetings were cancelled this year, the committee members Read More…
As reported earlier in the month, the Boston Redevelopment Authority released its recommended guidelines for three key Downtown Waterfront sites including the Harbor Garage, Hook Lobster and Long Wharf. The BRA proposes a maximum height for the Harbor Garage of 600′ (up from 150′ current zoning) and minimum open space of 30% (down from 50%). Read More…
After a long pause, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) resumed its meetings for the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan (MHP) Advisory Committee Wednesday at City Hall. The 5th floor Piemonte Room was filled to capacity as the public, mostly Harbor Tower residents, and the press came to hear about the recommendations the BRA is proposing. The three sites discussed Read More…
In advance of a public meeting next week, the Boston Redevelopment Authority has released a draft planning document for the Downtown Waterfront. If you’ve been following our coverage and meeting videos for the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Plan then you have already seen some of these concepts. However, this is the first time a draft Read More…
[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmTqEcRP0ko] Chief Planner, Kairos Shen, of the Boston Redevelopment Authority presented “Planning Area Urban Design Context” on Wednesday, March 26th, to the Downtown Waterfront Municipal Harbor Planning Advisory Committee. Shen began by comparing the key role of New York City’s Central Park to that of the Inner Boston Harbor after the cleanup. Both the Read More…